


Well fuck. That was not the plan.

by MagicMeg



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Mavinseg - Freeform, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-02
Updated: 2015-04-02
Packaged: 2018-03-20 22:48:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3668079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicMeg/pseuds/MagicMeg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU: In which Meg joins Rooster Teeth before dating Gavin. Prominently Turnfree in the beginning but slowly (and then quickly) dissolves into Mavinseg.</p>
<p>Michael and Lindsay know Gavin. And they know when he likes someone. Unfortunately, the Brit isn’t very good at going about getting the girl. So Michael and Lindsay decide to play matchmaker with their friends – only things don’t go to plan when the Joneses find that Meg and Gavin aren’t the only ones falling in love.<br/>“Michael… Listen. I think I like Meg and Gavin.”<br/>“Yeah, me too.”<br/>“No. I mean I like like them.”<br/>“I knew what you meant, Linds. Me too.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Well fuck. That was not the plan.

Michael and Lindsay Jones lived a very happy married life. They loved the shit out of each other and loved their work and their friends – in particular, they loved their best-friend Gavin, who had become, what they had affectionately dubbed, their adopted puppy who they couldn’t get rid of even if they tried. Yet as much as they loved Gavin there was no denying that he was an idiot, and he was especially an idiot when it came to a lady he liked.

Normally all it would take was a slight nudge of encouragement from them and he’d be confident enough to bumble the words, “Wanna grab some bevs?” Yet this time he more stubborn than they had ever seen him. Not even Monty’s tricks and wise words could convince him (or the lady) to make the first move because both of them were convinced that the other didn’t like them. It was when Meg Turney, said lady, moved to Austin and started working at Rooster Teeth that the situation got ridiculous. Gavin would bolt out of rooms if she entered and refuse to go out with them if he knew she was coming.

“Gav, stop being an asshole and ask the girl out,” Geoff complained one day at work, “or she’ll start _really_ thinking you hate her.”

Gavin squirmed in his seat, “So she thinks I hate her?”

Michael rolled his eyes, “What is she meant to think when someone deliberately goes out of their way to avoid her? You fucking walked into glass door yesterday you were so eager to get away from her!”

The Brit huffed in his seat, folding his arms across his chest.

“Is baby sulking now?” Michael jeered, “Did we hurt your wittle feeling Gavvy? Oh poor Gavvy Wavvy, those Achievement Hunters always being so mean to you.”

“Yo, did you just read that from the YouTube comment section or what?” Ray joked, earning himself a laugh from everyone but Gavin who remained silent but now there was a hint of embarrassed colour in his cheeks.

“Whatever dude,” Geoff lamented from the other side of the room, “but she’s fucking amazing and you’re the one missing out.”

Gavin muttered something under his breath but Kerry just burst into the office yelling about lunch so Michael couldn’t catch it. But the hint of sadness in the boy’s gaze was hard to miss and it tugged on the New Jerseyan’s heartstrings. Enough was enough. He was going to get his boy and Meg Turney together.

\----

That night over dinner Michael brought the topic up to Lindsay and she nodded with enthusiasm.

“I’ve spoken to Meg about it and she’s just as stubborn. She’s refusing to make any first moves after the party in LA with Burnie – which Gavin freaked out afterwards and stopped answering her texts. She says she won’t push anyone if they’re not interested.”

“But he is!” Michael complained.

“ _I_ know and that’s what I told her but she wouldn’t believe me.”

“Fucking Gavin. If he wasn’t such a pussy about it-“

“I know. But he must _really_ like her if he’s this scared.”

Michael made a noise of agreement before saying, “So… What the fuck are we going to do about it?”

“Do about it? You mean like play matchmaker or something?”

A nod. “That’s exactly what I mean. They’re fucking perfect for each other, all we need is to just break down that wall Gavin has built around himself, let him show her how much he likes her and she’ll be right in there.”

“But how?”

“That’s the golden question.”

The couple fell into contemplative silence before a smirk crawled up Lindsay’s face. Her husband noticed her change in expression – “Come out with it. What evil plan have you come up with?”

“Well, you know how you, me and Gavin have our Mario Party nights?” she began.

“Yeah?”

“And how Gavin refuses to go anywhere he knows Meg is going to?”

“Yup.”

“Well what if we invite Meg this Friday but maybe ‘forget’ to tell Gav.”

A mischievous smirk crawled up Michael’s lips, “We get him to come a bit earlier than her, give him a few beers before she comes. The little shit won’t know what’s hit him until that redhead is destroying him at Mario Party.”

“I’ll text Meg now.”

“And I, Gavin.” Pause. “I do love being married to you.”

“I should hope so.”

“Bitch.”

“Asshole.”

\----

For Gavin it began like any ordinary Friday. Perhaps Michael and Lindsay were a little giddier than usual but he was just glad for some normalcy after the whirlwind which was Meg Turney had turned his life upside down. He was a sceptic to the core and did not believe in love at first sight but by god the moment that girl came up to him and introduced herself he was gone. Never in his life had anyone had such an impact on him and it scared him half to death. So much so he was too nervous to reply to her texts and after days of contemplation he resolved that his life was so much simpler before her thus ignoring her was the easiest thing to do.

That was until he received a company email saying that Rooster Teeth had hired a new face for The Now who would be joining them in Austin soon - and that face was the one burned into the back of his eyelids, which reappeared time and time again in his dreams. The red-headed vixen herself, Meg Turney. Now his life seemed to encompass the eternal struggle between wanting to stare at her and take her out for drinks, and the earth shattering reality of ‘a girl that smart and beautiful isn’t going to stick around with someone like me for long’ and if he fell for her and she broke his heart… He didn’t think he’d ever recover.

“Hey Gav,” Michael said, breaking Gavin from his train of thought as he finished his first beer, “you want another?”

“Yeah, thanks, boi,” Gavin replied, too distracted with thoughts of Meg Turney to notice the sly grin on Michael’s lips. A grin he would’ve recognised as the Michael-is-fucking-with-Gavin grin – but unfortunately (or fortunately) he didn’t.

Gavin and the Joneses gathered on the couch, and they followed the familiar routine of slipping into chatter as they turned the console and passed out the Wii remotes. As Michael pulled out a fourth controller Gavin went to correct him on the number people present when-

_Knock_. _Knock_.

“Is someone coming over?” the Brit asked cluelessly as Lindsay scrambled to get the door.

“Yeah didn’t we tell you?” Michael asked, trying too hard to sound nonchalant. The door swung open behind Gavin and his heart almost stopped in his chest when he heard a familiar voice. In response to the murderous look Gavin was giving him, Michael responded with an all too familiar shit-eating grin. “Oops.”

At the doorway Gavin heard a faint whisper of – “You didn’t tell me he was going to be here.” – and he felt a furious blush rise up in his cheeks. He was going to kill Michael and Lindsay. Cold. Blooded. Murder. There would be news reports about it. He would be named the new Jack the Ripper because no bloody way were they getting away with this. Who were they trying to be? Fucking Cupid?!

Gavin was torn away from his internal monologue as Meg Turney was now squeezing onto the sofa beside him – because apparently Lindsay had stolen the seat next to Michael. Purposefully, Gavin assumed. As he tried to even his breathing, Michael passed Meg a Wii remote and the game began.

Fuck. She smelt good.

How was he meant to win when she smelt so good?

Surely that was the only reason she had robbed him out of the first star – no way was she beating him.

Bloody hell.

“Have you played this before?” Gavin demanded angrily as she won _another_ mini-game. Fuck. He hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

Meg’s face turned to his, her eyebrow raised. “So he speaks?” she murmured before turning back to the TV to take her turn.

Gavin stared at her for a good thirty seconds. Even in his foulest tempers she didn’t bat an eyelash. So she was good at video games _and_ held her ground. That was solid combination.

Bit by bit, Gavin relaxed. And then finally – he laughed. At Meg’s expense, of course. One space away from the star and Gavin stole it from her with a Thrice Candy. This sent the next star spawning on the other side of the map – right in front of Michael (which was the equivalent of handing the victory of him – Meg’s main competitor).

“You piece of shit!” she cried as Gavin disappeared into a fit of giggles.

“Oh you were so smug-“ he gasped between laugher, “- and then I-I-“

“Yes I know what you did,” she snarled.

“Y-Your face!”

Meg gave out a cry of anger before launching herself at the Brit. But – after years of wrestles with Geoff and Michael – he was quick enough to throw himself off of the sofa to land ungracefully onto the floor. Before Meg could gather herself, he scrambled to his feet and raced out of the living room – a livid Meg racing after him, Wii remote still in hand, raised like a weapon.

Michael watched them over his shoulder. “Hmph.”

“Now here’s the question,” Lindsay murmured, “Are we going to have to write a formal apology to Matt tomorrow, explaining why two of his employees are dead because we thought it would be a good idea to force them to play a competitive game together?”

Michael chuckled, “Worst comes to worst we’ll just be getting Gavin’s cum stains out of our carpet. And I doubt anyone will be complaining much about that asshole finally getting laid.”

A few minutes after the sounds of scuffles had dimmed Gavin and Meg returned to the couch. Both of them looking flushed but not nearly dishevelled enough to lead the Joneses to believe anything significant had happen. Meg and Gavin cast each other scornful looks (which didn’t nearly look as genuine as they were trying to be) as they both flopped back into their seats.

Lindsay unpaused the game only to allow the four of them to see Michael be crowned the winner. This only added to Meg’s bitterness and gave Gavin the opportunity to tease her saying, “Looks like Turney here’s a sore loser.” She responded to his jibe by sticking out her tongue at him.

Michael and Lindsay smirked at each other.

The plan was working.

\----

It was a lazy afternoon the following Monday and no one was in the Achievement Hunter office but Michael and Gavin. “So…” the New Jerseyan began, “You finally spoke to Meg.”

“Oh don’t worry, I’m still planning on murdering you and Lindsay for that,” Gavin replied, not looking away from his screen, “I’m planning on going to a Ryan-scale of psycho with you two.”

Michael sniggered, “Come on, I play wingman and this is the thanks I get?”

Gavin turned to glare at the older man, “Who said I asked for a wingman?”

“Awhh but you’re my boi!” Michael cried, spinning his chair and rolling it right up next to Gavin’s. “I’ve got to look out for my boi!”

Gavin made a noise of annoyance and swatted Michael’s hand away as he tried to pet Gavin’s hair.

“But come on, Gav. You like her. She likes you. And now you _know_ that you have a connection.”

“Just bloody leave it alone!” Gavin snapped, pushing himself out of his chair and storming out of the office – leaving Michael wide-eyed and very concerned.

Making his way to get a drink Gavin turned around a sharp corner, and rather quickly, only to find himself slamming into someone.

“Oh fuck. Sorry I-“

Brown eyes. Red hair. Meg Turney.

_Gavin tumbled around a corner and Meg – not seeing his fall – tripped over him and collapsed on top of him. Her Wii remote tumbled out of her hand and suddenly Gavin found himself with a face full of Meg Turney._

_It was second-instinct. He had no control over what his body was doing._

_Because suddenly he was grabbing her face and bringing her mouth to his._

_Fuck. It was electric. He felt like his whole body was on fire. Meg Fucking Turney. She made a noise of enjoyment as her fingers splayed across his chest. Her mouth opened and her tongue entered the fray._

_It was fast and a bit sloppy. But all he wanted to do was get that tank top and those jeans and fucking_ everything _off of her, take her into the bedroom, lock the door and never come out._

_But Michael and Lindsay were there. And he had promised himself not to let her break him-_

_He broke away from the kiss._

_“No I… I can’t-“_

_Meg’s expression fell for a second before a smirk rose on her face – “Got you, asshole. Next time don’t steal people’s fucking stars.” She was apparently ignoring the terrified look on his face._

_Then she was off him and he was scowling at her and calling her names again. Like nothing had happened._

Except something had happened. And now that they were face-to-face again his breath caught in his throat as his eyes zoomed in on her lips.

“Watch where you’re going star-stealer,” she teased before walking on, once again ignoring the dear-in-headlights look he was giving her.

He stayed there for a moment frozen before he shook himself from it. If anyone could get over a crush it was Gavin. He was the master at just dumping people from his life and Meg Turney was going to be no different.

\----

Around half an hour later Meg and Lindsay were seated in a nearby Starbucks sipping on coffee and eating cakes together. Giggling, gossiping and people watching. From the moment Meg had first spoken to Lindsay their connection was immediate. Not that it hurt that Lindsay was easy on the eyes (though she’d never make a move on a married woman). After that their connection had blossomed into an easy-going friendship which led her onto getting closer to her husband Michael. Meg’s only knowledge of him was from his Rage-Quits (and the fact that Gavin had brought him up more than once when they had first met – so much so she had actually thought that Michael was _Gavin’s_ boyfriend for a moment). And much like Lindsay, she got on famously with him. Their humours were tuned into one another’s so it hadn’t been much of a shock when Lindsay had invited her over to play Mario Party. That was until the door swung open and she saw the familiar mess of light hair sitting on the couch.

Fucking assholes trying to play matchmaker.

Not that it hadn’t worked. A quick lip-lock with a handsome boy was never something to complain about. But the look on Gavin’s face after it ended had been a hit to her ego – only until she realised that it was fear on his face, not disgust. Something had Gavin scared of her, but she wasn’t going to be the one to push him. He had made it pretty clear that he did not want to bother with her, so why would she pursue someone who was so eager to shut it down?

“Look, I’m really sorry about the other night-“ Lindsay began.

“No you’re not,” Meg cut in, rolling her eyes, “But I forgive you either way.”

Lindsay the decency to look sheepish but Meg really didn’t mind. It was sweet that their friends cared so much, she just wished it could’ve worked out.

“At least you and Gavin are on speaking terms,” the other girl pointed out upon seeing the mournful look on Meg’s face.

“More than I ever hoped for previously,” Meg joked before finishing off her cake. “You have to stop buying me food, Lindsay. I’m trying to stay on a diet for an upcoming shoot.”

Lindsay laughed, “Okay, we’ll compromise. Next time I’ll buy you healthier food?”

A smile quirked up on her lips, “It’s a date!” And perhaps their smiles were a little too bright for ‘just friends’ but neither one of them really noticed.

\----

After the Joneses returned home from work that day they filled each other in on what they had learnt on the Meg/Gavin situation – in particular the Gavin freak-out situation.

“You weren’t there Linds, he was actually mad at me. Not annoyed, not fake mad, really mad. I… I’ve never seen him like that,” Michael explained, a hint of sadness in his voice.

Lindsay rubbed his arm, “I’m sure it wasn’t you in particular. Meg said that Gavin seems scared of her or something. There must be something we don’t know about. Maybe he had his heart broken pretty bad?”

Even the idea of someone breaking Gavin’s heart filled Michael’s with a strong surge of protectiveness he’d only ever felt for the likes of Lindsay.

“Yeah, maybe.”

“You should talk to him tomorrow, you know get him alone. Let him know he can tell you anything.”

So the next day when Gavin went off to take a piss, Michael scurried off after him (ignoring Ray’s calls of “USE PROTECTION IF YOU DON’T WANNA GET AIDS!”).

“You following me, boi?” the Brit asked as they entered the bathroom together, his eyebrows raised in suspicion.

“Y-yeah I just-“ Maybe cornering him in the bathroom wasn’t the smartest thing because Gavin was taking his dick out to pee and maybe this was a bad time to have a man-to-man talk. “-Uhm. I just wanted to say I was sorry about yesterday.”

Gavin visibly tensed. There was a pause. “It’s okay, I shouldn’t have overreacted like that.”

Thankfully Gavin was finished and he was moving to wash his hands. Michael remained where he was, back against the door so that if anyone interrupted them he could scare them out.

“Gav, you know if there’s a reason this Meg thing is… weirding you out or scaring you…” He paused to analyse Gavin’s reaction but the Brit remained neutral. “Look. What I’m saying is that you can tell me anything and it might help the whole situation if-“

“Michael.”

“Yes?”

“That is…” he took a deep breath, “the gayest fucking thing I think I’ve ever heard you say. And you’ve offered to give me a blowjob so that’s saying something.”

“Asshole,” Michael snapped, “I was trying to be a good friend.”

Gavin just laughed before gathering up water in his hand.

“Gav, what the fuck are you-“

_Splash._

The asshole had thrown fucking water all over him.

“Oh you little bitch.”

Michael launched himself at Gavin, grabbing him by his shirt. Gavin tried to wriggle to get away but in his efforts to writhe from Michael’s grasp he slipped on the water he spilt and they both went tumbling to the floor.

“Not again,” Gavin muttered as he found Michael laying across him. However Michael was a lot heavier than Meg had been.

“You clumsy fuck,” Michael chortled, not hearing Gavin’s comment, “You fucking slipped on the tiniest puddle in all of fucking existence.”

“You’re heavy Mi-coo,” he complained trying to push the boy off him but Michael stubbornly held his place over him, his hands moving to sit either side of his head.

“Not until you tell me what’s up,” Michael demanded, a mischievous glint in his eye.

“Michael!” Gavin cried indignantly.

“Look I tried fucking doing it the nice way and you threw water at me. No more Mister Nice-Guy, Gavvers.”

Gavin huffed. Michael raised his eyebrows.

“We can do this all day. It’s fine by me.”

“So you’re not the least bit turned on?” Gavin asked waggling his eyebrows.

“Stop trying to change to topic,” Michael snapped a bit too quickly.

Silence. Michael saw his resolution crumbling. He waited on baited breath. Getting secrets out of him was like drawing to draw blood from a stone.

“I’ve never been in love,” Gavin finally said, defeat in his voice. Michael scrunched up his eyebrows but didn’t say a word – allowing Gavin to continue. “But I’ve seen what it can do to people. It can fuck them up and leave them with nothing. And Meg… I knew from the moment I met her that she had the power to do that to me.”

Michael’s heart wrenched in his chest. This was the sincerest he’d ever seen Gavin, he only mildly regretted that he had to pin him down onto a bathroom floor to get such honesty. Speaking of which – Michael shifted off of his best friend and helped to pull him up so they were both on the floor.

“So that’s why you won’t ask her out? You’re scared she’ll break your heart?”

Gavin nodded, “My life is far better than I deserve it to be. There’s no way the fates will let me have her as well without fucking me over somehow.”

Michael tilted his head, eyebrows raised doubtfully, “And since when have you been superstitious?” Gavin dropped his head. “Look, Gav-“ He rubbed his friend’s arm comfortingly. “I know how scary it can be to place your heart into someone’s hands like that. But it’s worth the risk. Even if Lindsay decided tomorrow that she wanted to have a divorce – well I’d be broken, yes – but it would have still been worth it just to have loved her these past few years. And Meg really likes you even despite the fact that you keep pushing her away because she can sense it’s because of something else. Are you really going to find anyone else who will put up with your shit like that?”

“I don’t know,” Gavin mumbled, “You and Lindsay put up with my shit.”

“But we aren’t dating you, asshole.”

“Yet.”

“God. Can you try not to be a fucking moron for one second?” Pause. “So will you think about asking Meg out?”

There’s a beat of silence. Gavin inhales and exhales very slowly.

“Yeah, I’ll think about it.”

Michael pats his back and hoists them both onto their feet, “Just take your time, buddy.”

They brush themselves off.

“Michael?”

“Yeah?”

“I think _that_ is  definitely the gayest thing we’ve ever done.”

“Oh shut the fuck up.” But there’s a smile on his lips.

\----

Now there was just Meg. Lindsay had a shittonne of videos to edit so once again Michael was stepping up to play the role of Cupid. Luckily, when Michael found her in her office Ashley was out for lunch with Burnie and wouldn’t be back for a while.

“I hear my boy has been giving you shit,” Michael says, leaning against the bedframe in her office.

Meg chuckled, “Your ‘boy’ is infuriating. Has anyone told him that?”

“Several hundred times, I assume.” This comment earned Michael another laugh, which made him smile in response. “He’s not a bad guy, you know.”

Meg raised an eyebrow. “Are we really doing this?”

“I’m just saying,” Michael continued, “that maybe he likes you a lot more than he’s letting on but he’s just too terrified to make any moves. Gav isn’t good with letting people in but when he does he loves them with all his heart. It’s the most precious place in the world to be but it takes a lot of work and persistence.”

“Why is he so guarded?” she asked, finally turning away from her work to swivel her chair around to look him in the eyes.

“He’s just scared of getting hurt.”

“He thinks I’ll hurt him?”

“If you ever left him, you would.”

There’s a moment of lingering silence. “He cares about me that much?” Meg asks, her voice quiet with waving disbelief.

Michael nodded. “And it goes without saying that he doesn’t know I’m telling you this. In fact, if he found out he might murder me. For real.”

Meg laughed, rising from her seat to walk towards Michael. Her hand reaches up to squeeze his arm. “Thank you for telling me.” He hand runs down his forearm and then stops to squeeze his hand.

“I’m just looking out for my friends,” he replies. Her hand hasn’t left his yet.

“Does that include me?” she asks teasingly.

“Of course,” he replies, a grin on his face as he punctuates the sentence by ‘booping’ her nose with his finger.

Somewhere close to them the sound of voices stirs up. It breaks them from their quiet conversation and they jump apart.

Michael’s hand feels cold.

\----

It’s the Fourth of July and Burnie is hosting another crazy party. It’s long past midnight but Lindsay has no idea _how_ long past midnight. All she knows is that she is drunk, the music is gloriously loud and everyone is dancing. Michael’s mouth is temptingly close and her smile is stretched wide. The beat thrums through the floor and she feels the happiness to her very core.

She notices Michael’s eyes flick over her shoulder and his face lights up and he’s calling someone over with a wordless gesture. That’s when Meg slips in on their left and Gavin on their right. (Throughout that night the two of them had been suspiciously close to each other.) The song reaches its high point. The sweat is dropping off of all of them and seeing Meg dance like that is making her drunk mind spin.

She feels someone grab her arse and it’s not Michael sending her the wink, it’s Gavin. One of Michael’s hands has intertwined with Meg’s as they bounce along to the beat. Jesus, it’s glorious. She wants all three of them as close to her as possible and they seem to feel the same because they keep getting closer and closer. She can feel Gavin’s hot breath on her neck and Meg’s breast is pressed up against her. Michael is right across from her and she can’t help but lean in and kiss him.

Both of Michael’s hands swoop up to cup her face and she hears Gavin wolf-whistle but the music is too loud and Michael’s kisses are too intoxicating.

Sometime during the night the four of them stopped dancing and Meg and Gavin disappeared for a while.  Only for them to come back with swollen lips and, as Michael points out, Gavin’s shirt was inside-out. “Idiot,” Michael muttered before placing a kiss on Lindsay’s cheek. “But guess what, babe?”

“Mhmm?”

“We did it. We got those fuckers to fuck.”

Lindsay laughed. Everything was perfect that night.

\----

Once Gavin and Meg got their shit together and started dating everything seemed to fall into place. They bought a house, got a cat and double dates with Michael and Lindsay became a weekly ritual and the highlight of the week.

Michael never believed in fate before but fuck was he starting to now. No one could have gotten this lucky. A beautiful wife and the two closest and funniest friends he could have asked for. It was almost amusing how close the four of them were. Michael and Lindsay had helped them move in and practically dominated the guest room (when Dan wasn’t over) for the amount of times they were either too drunk or too tired to go back to their apartment.

And who could forget summer swims? The four of them tended to get touchy-feely with each other on a daily basis but when it was just the four of them in the pool it was taken to another level. For example, take the time when Michael and Meg decided to re-enact the lift from Dirty Dancing. Both Lindsay and Gavin were lounging in the sun (Lindsay claiming she was ready to call emergency services if something went wrong) whilst Meg stood at the edge of the pool and Michael stood in the water.

“Michael if you don’t catch me-“

“I’m going to catch you. Don’t worry, babe.” It was slip of the tongue. He only ever called Lindsay ‘babe’. And yet none of them seemed to notice or mind.

“Okay, okay,” Meg hummed to herself. Psyching herself up for it.

 “Just jump!” Gavin cried from his seat, holding his iPhone, ready to film - whatever the result.

“Okay!” Meg cried.

She took a few steps back. Then she went for it. Leaping into Michael’s arms. He caught her perfectly. Then, his hands on her hips, her hands pressed on his shoulders for the time being, he lifted her higher. She cried out, giggling hysterically. Her legs were pointed straight out behind her and with Michael urging her on she lifted her hands and-

“We’re doing it!”

There was a few seconds of glory before Michael’s arms gave out and they went tumbling into the pool water. In the fall Michael had retained his grip on Meg so when they rose out of the water their bodies still remained flushed against each other. Nose to nose and as they laughed.

For them it was just friends being friends. How little they knew…

\----

Thinking about it, it was surprising how long it took them. It was only when they started getting wet dreams about one another, threesomes and foursomes galore that they started to catch on.

One late August night Lindsay decided it was time to talk to Michael about it. She took him by his hands as led him to sit on the couch with her.

“We need to talk.”

He raised an eyebrow.

She steadied her breath. She had promised herself that there would be no beating around the bush or justifying her thoughts. She would just come right out with it and if Michael got angry… well, he was justified in doing so. She had broken her vow to him, she had fallen for someone (or rather some others) apart from him.

“You know I love you?” she began.

A small smile danced across his lips and the adoring gaze he often wore rose upon his face. “Of course. I love you too.”

Another deep breath.

“Michael… Listen. I think I like Meg and Gavin.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“No. I mean I _like_ like them.”

“I knew what you meant, Linds. Me too.”

“I- really? You want to be with them too?”

He nodded, taking her hands in his. “I love you Lindsay. But I’ve fallen in love with them too.”

She leant in to kiss him tenderly before murmuring, “What do we do, Michael?”

\----

Gavin didn’t think he could take it much longer and he could tell it was driving Meg up the wall too. Only his idiot friends would try to hook him up and end up creating a weird love square. And what was even worse is that Meg and Gavin didn’t even know if the Joneses felt the same way.

Thus began the torture. All day, for five-days a week he is locked up in a room with Lindsay and especially Michael as Gavin tried to analyse them and figure out they felt.

‘ _Just my bloody luck’_ he thought to himself, ‘ _I can barely get a_ singular _girlfriend and now I want three partners at once?!_ ’ And though Meg liked to remind him that they were in the same boat he also liked to point out that _she_ didn’t have to share an office with them. An office in which sexual jokes about him and Michael were made all the time. Where Michael jokingly made passing remarks about fucking him and doing all sorts of pleasurable things to him.

Also, why the fuck did Michael so carelessly take off his sweaters? He wouldn’t bother pressing his shirt down so it wouldn’t rise up. Oh, no. Michael Jones _loved_ showing off his bloody flesh. So, every time he got hot (which was lot because he yelled and laughed a lot) he would pull his sweater off which would make his t-shirt ride high, exposing his pale hip and the rim of his boxers and- holy fuck. Gavin was seriously going to lose his mind.

Then it all came to a head the day that Michael and Gavin had to change into some spare shirts after they had a ketchup/mustard fight (don’t ask).

They had to scramble around in the merch closet to find a shirt which fit them. Then, after they both had grabbed a shirt, Gavin went to leave but before he could take one step Michael had already thrown his mustard covered shirt off and thrown it in a ball on the ground.

Gavin blinked.

Gavin remembered to breathe.

“Michael what-“

“I’m changing, dipshit,” he replied, though he wouldn’t meet Gavin’s gaze. “Aren’t you going to?”

“Uh-“

“Come on I’ve seen you shirtless before, we’ve gone swimming together. Stop being such a pussy and strip, boi.”

‘ _But that was before I dreamed about you naked_ ’ Gavin thought to himself. But nonetheless, with shaky hands, he took off his ketchup covered shirt and tossed it down beside Michael’s.

When he looked up he saw that Michael had made no effort to put on another shirt. Instead he was staring at Gavin, his eyes filled with dark lust which sent thrills through the younger boy.

“Fuck it,” Michael muttered to himself.

He slammed the closet door shut-

“Mich-“

Their mouths clashed together. Michael’s hands were on either side of his face. Much like with Meg, kissing him was second-nature. He groaned and wrapped his arms around Michael’s waist, allowing himself to be pushed up against the nearest wall. Michael’s kiss was hot and desperate and Gavin had to wonder if Michael had been wanting him just as long as Gavin had been wanting him. Michael’s hands began to drift to the bulge in Gavin’s trousers and the Brit groaned.

“Michael,” he panted, breaking the kiss with deep reluctance. “You should know that Meg and I, we want this, with you and-“ he gasped as Michael went for his neck. “We- uhm. We want to be with – Oh, Michael!”

Michael’s lips traced Gavin’s jawline, confident that he’d just left a hickey on his neck. “Text Lindsay and Meg,” the he said, his voice rough, “and tell them they’re needed urgently in the merch closet.”

To say the least, they broke a couple office rules that day. As it turned out, breaking office rules started to become a habit with the four of them.

Not that following the rules was ever concern, they weren’t conventional anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> Holy cow! I was expecting to write a quick little thing and then it became about 3,000 words bigger than expected! I think this is the longest thing I've written all in one.  
> Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoying writing it but let me know what you thought :)


End file.
